


Coming of Age Rituals

by Bluewolf458



Category: The Sentinel
Genre: Gen, Sentinel Bingo
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-02
Updated: 2018-03-02
Packaged: 2019-03-26 00:15:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 607
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13846029
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bluewolf458/pseuds/Bluewolf458
Summary: Blaire is giving a lecture





	Coming of Age Rituals

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the 2018 Sentinel Bingo prompt 'coming of age'

Coming of Age Rituals

by Bluewolf

The curriculum was the curriculum was the curriculum, immutable. Or was it?

Blair knew that some of the other TAs thought he was giving himself unnecessary work by rewording many of his lectures each year. However, he had found that despite some inevitable differences in attitude between individuals, each class had a tendency to react in much the same way to much the same thing - and it wasn't necessarily whatever the previous class had found inspiring.

'Coming of age' lectures were ones Blair found particularly difficult, because there was such a difference in 'coming of age' expectations between jungle tribes and those of Western cultures. For the one, children because adult at puberty, after they had undergone some kind of rite of passage; for the other, it was an 'age' thing - and the age of 'adulthood' had changed a lot over the years. Though one aspect of that hadn't changed - the age when children could leave school, the age when it was legal for them to work, might have changed, but 21 was, and had been for years, the age at which they were considered truly adult by society. Getting 'the key of the door', being able (in many countries) to go into a bar and buy a legal drink...

But there was one weird 21st birthday coming of age custom that Blair thought might just interest his current Anthropology 101 class...

***

He faced the class, waited for silence, then swung into his usual 'coming of age, usually involving pain suffered stoically' spiel that concentrated on tribal cultures, then moved on to the fact that even modern-day America had such rituals. "One that involves pain comes from the first legal drinking - or should I say 'over-drinking' - bout you experience on your 21st birthday; the headache you might suffer as a result." He waited for the laughter to die. "But at one time there was an interesting rite of passage that had to have been very painful, though it was undoubtedly intended to save the recipients pain in their future years.

"At one time - even as recently as sixty years ago - in some places parents paid to have their children's teeth extracted and replaced by dentures as a 21st birthday present." He paused again at the gasp of horror that swept the room. "It meant that they never had to suffer the pain of decaying teeth or the agony of having decaying teeth drilled for a filling... because at one time it was rare for dentists to numb anyone's mouth for something as routine as a filling, and drilling a tooth was a slow procedure. Indeed, my grandmother once told me that when she was a child she had several milk teeth pulled by the dentist - without any anesthetic. And, she said, even if the tooth had begun to 'wiggle' the extraction was still very painful.

"It meant that people your age knew that in two or three years' time they would have that coming of age ritual. Whether they looked forward to it or dreaded it - who knows? They did know it would hurt."

He paused again, knowing that this was a good point to stop. He glanced at the watch Jim had given him for his last birthday. "We're about six minutes early, but unless anyone has any questions...? Okay, read chapter eight in 'The Lives of the Amazon Indians' for next class, and be prepared to discuss what it says. You can go."

As the last one to leave closed the door, Blair sighed, glad that modern dentistry was more humane than it had been in his grandmother's day.

 


End file.
